The second book in the Reviver series follows 28 year old Jonah Miller, the youngest of the Revivers ever taken on at age nineteen, in the Forensic Revival Service as he enters his ninth year of getting testimony from the dead. The FRS is under constant threat from the Afterlifers, a coalition intent on bringing Reviver work to an end. So when fifteen year-old David Leith dies, Jonah is called in to handle the revival; namely because the boy’s father is one of the chief Afterlifers and his permission has not been sought for the revival. The mother wants to go ahead with it, and wants to say goodbye to her son, so things go awry in a major way during the revival and Jonah, tired of their interference, decides to resign. On top of coping with a new future things aren’t great with his girlfriend Annabel, who’s traipsing all around the country investigating a case from last year involving the Afterlifers and doesn’t seem to have time for him.
After his resignation Jonah is called in for a private revival, a murdered woman. And she’s not the only victim. Her memories show there is something waiting in the dark. Linked to Andreas Biotech; bringing up memories of the past.
This plays like a supernatural/noir/detective story with a Cthulhu-esque vibe and it plays it very well. Jonah is an eminently likeable character and narrator. There are things he knows or suspects that he won’t quite tell the reader – yet – which adds to the growing mystery of the story. With Annabel interspersed as an occasional narrator we also learn more about her feelings for Jobah than he actually knows, and she collates the pieces of the Andreas puzzle that lead to the conclusion. There is a great amount of emotion throughout the novel, mostly from Jonah and a significant amount of respect for the dead. As the action progresses and we meet more characters the depth of this excellent novel increases, and the elements of horror interwoven through the story are perfectly handled. A truly excellent book with a cracking cliffhanger boding well for the third instalment.